No Room on Broadway For 2 Off Broadway Hits

By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: January 25, 2006

They have great reviews, sellout crowds and casts willing to extend as long as necessary, but what a pair of successful Off Broadway productions don't have is the one thing they really need: a Broadway home.

For the last several weeks, the producers of ''The Little Dog Laughed,'' the acclaimed new Douglas Carter Beane comedy at Second Stage, and ''The Trip to Bountiful,'' the Horton Foote revival at Signature Theater Company, have been scanning the Broadway landscape for openings but finding no room at the inn.

''They're booked,'' James Houghton, the Signature's artistic director, said of Broadway theaters. ''And it's so frustrating because I think what we've got is a major crowning achievement in Lois Smith's performance.'' Ms. Smith plays Carrie Watts, the difficult yet endearing lead character of ''Bountiful.''

''I think the production and the play are worthy of a transfer,'' he said.

But the play, which opened in early December at the 160-seat Peter Norton Space on West 42nd Street, will not go to another, larger Off Broadway theater, Mr. Houghton declared.

''To move it down the street would cost us about $600,000,'' he said. ''And it won't garner the media attention or the marketing dollars it needs. And we need that attention'' to support the production.

Carole Rothman, the artistic director of Second Stage, has also ruled out an Off Broadway transfer for ''The Little Dog Laughed,'' a Hollywood satire, which opened in her company's 300-seat theater to ecstatic reviews on Jan. 9.

''When you've got a comedy that people are having a good time at, you go, 'Oh, let's move this one,' '' Ms. Rothman said, adding that the theater had been swamped with calls from commercial producers and ticket-seekers. ''The only thing holding us back is not having a theater.''

Ms. Rothman says she is confident the show will make it to Broadway eventually -- possibly by fall -- but she and potential commercial backers are wary of losing momentum. Her company, after all, did well with a quick transfer last year when ''The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee'' jumped to Circle in the Square. It promptly won two Tony Awards and recouped its investment in a little more than four months.

''The prevailing wisdom is to move quickly,'' Ms. Rothman said. ''On the other hand, if it's a show people are enjoying, why would they enjoy it any less in the fall?''

But Philip J. Smith, the president of the Shubert Organization, the largest owner of Broadway theaters, said this year's Tony deadline -- in early May -- was weighing heavily on producers who want to transfer shows to Broadway. (The Tony Awards recognize only productions that have played at one of 40 Broadway theaters.)

''If they want to come in July, fine,'' Mr. Smith said. ''But the whole season has been a tight situation'' especially for the smaller theaters that are more appropriate for plays.

Among the plays booked to open in the spring are revivals of ''Barefoot in the Park,'' ''Awake and Sing!,'' ''The Caine Mutiny Court Martial,'' ''Three Days of Rain'' and ''Faith Healer''; new works including Lisa Kron's ''Well,'' the one-woman show ''Bridge & Tunnel'' and David Lindsay-Abaire's ''Rabbit Hole''; and three British imports, ''Festen,'' by David Eldridge, Conor McPherson's ''Shining City'' and Alan Bennett's ''History Boys.'' Neil Simon's ''Odd Couple'' is also gobbling up a theater with a lengthy and nearly sold-out run.

In the meantime, Mr. Houghton has extended ''Bountiful'' as far as he can, to March 11. (The theater's next production, John Guare's ''Landscape of the Body,'' will follow it at the Peter Norton.) Like Ms. Rothman, however, he says that he hopes he can hold on to his cast and his show's energy till the theater crunch eases.

''The only hope we have is that the interest continues,'' Mr. Houghton said. ''We'll keep it alive as long as we can.''